Strong juniors in the 7th Bangkok Chess Club Open

4/21/2007 – Why, oh why, did we not receive these photos twenty days ago?! We could have made such a lovely first of April report with them. Still, better late than never. Here's a report on the Bangkok Chess Club's strongest open tournament to date, with a total of 109 players from 30 different countries. It was won by an up-and-coming Australian talent, but the show was stolen by a Thai junior.

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David Smerdon wins in Phuket

Report by William Campi

The Bangkok Chess Club’s strongest open to date was held on one of the
most spectacular locations in Asia: Phuket. The island is located off the west
coast of Thailand in the Andaman Sea and is home to a rare variety of stunning
limestone shoals, coral gardens, lush rainforests and idyllic beaches. Amongst
the tropical fruits, quiet contemplation and calmness of the ocean, you’d
be hard pressed to find a more tranquil location for an international chess
tournament.

The 7th Bangkok Chess Club Open, which was held from March 27th to April 1st,
was squarely taken by up-and-coming Australian talent IM David Smerdon. Australian
number one, GM Ian Rogers, was outdone by countryman, who won clear at 7.5 points
from 9. The tournament was held in the sunny getaway that is Phuket Island in
Thailand, and for some this made all the difference.

The tournament winner IM David Smerdon

Australian IM David Smerdon outplayed a field of four GMs and was the clear
winner in the 7th Bangkok Chess Club Open. David had already earned his first
GM norm, but in his last tournament a final round loss left him just a half-point
shy of his second. With an understandable amount of disappointment he decided
to go to Thailand to "have some holiday". And in the balmy tropics
of Phuket Island, playing less than 500 meters from the great Indian Ocean,
he convincingly made his second GM norm!

Inside the spacious playing hall, the top boards in front

The venue for this year’s BCC Open was the Graceland
Resort & Spa. The site was spectacular. In between the morning and afternoon
games, players were able to walk to the beach for lunch and a quick dip in the
ocean. Others swam in the double-decker pools at the hotel. There were also
several festivals taking place on the island during the tournament and the nightlife
at Patong beach had a lot on offer.

The ocean was very calm and warm, and only a short walk from the hotel

In second place was GM Rogelio Antonio Jr of the Philippines who earned seven
points from nine. He has won both the BCC Open and the blitz tournament three
times since the inception of the event in 2000. Antonio, who won the Open last
year, was followed by GM Ian Rogers from Australia, GM R.B. Ramesh from India,
GM Dimitri Komarov from Ukraine, IM Simon Ansell from England, Cor van Dongen
from the Netherlands and FM Martin Haag from Germany, all in third place.

GM Rogelio Antonio, a regular at the yearly tournament in Thailand

Group B was won by Bangkok Chess Club regular Paul Elauria from the Philippines,
followed by 2nd place winners R. Hanumantha from India, Umnoui Atikachoemwartha
and Pricha Srivatanakul from Thailand, and Reijo Ahjonen from Finland.

A total of 109 players representing 30 different countries participated for
this event. The tournament’s Arbiter team was also multinational (Finland,
Brunei, Thailand), headed by a Chief Arbiter Markku Kosonen. Special thanks
to sponsors: Siam Commercial Bank, Sinaptiq, Martin Crichton, Ekasith Buasroung,
P.K. Snowbird, Southern Fried Rice, and of course Phuket Graceland Resort and
Spa, which provided us a great tournament venue!

Tepparit Yothinnorratham was the top Thai junior

Dr. Kantathi Suphamongkol, President of Thailand Chess Association and former
Minister of Foreign Affairs, was at the awards ceremony in Phuket. Both he and
his wife are avid chess players and Dr. Suphamongkol is a great supporter of
chess in Thailand.

GM Ian Rogers, who tied for third, faces off against another talented Thai
junior

An early draw offer, which was suprisingly accepted by the grandmaster

In their game FM Teerapong Heffalump offered GM R.B. Ramesh a draw after the
moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3. It is not strictly ethical to
do this at such an early phase of the game, but Ramesh said that Heffalump's
demeanor and handshake were so firm that he was convinced the draw was in order.

Ogling and pointing while playing against an attractive female opponent,
like WGM Anya Corke from Hong Kong, is definitely frowned upon. A case for the
FIDE Ethics Committee?

Seriously: during the break day the Tourism Authority of Thailand graciously
arranged for a baby elephant to visit the players poolside. Coconut cocktails
and margaritas were served and some blitz was played. The elephant didn’t
fare as well as expected, but then again these guys don’t joke around
at the board.

FM Asko Hentunen, (leftmost) with the Finnish team, earned an IM norm

There was also a national team competition, where 5-6 players representing
the same country could participate. A total of nine countries participated with
their teams. Team Finland was leading until round seven, after which team Australia
took the lead and kept it until the end. In extremely tight competition the
winner was team Australia (GM Rogers, IM Smerdon, FM Tim Reilly, Damian Norris,
Oleg Korenevski). A half point behind was team Ireland, which had a great run
in the last two rounds, overtaking by a half point teams from India, Thailand
and Finland. The other teams participating were from England, Malaysia, Singapore
and Norway.

See also

3/27/2018 – Sergey Karjkin didn't succeed in posing serious problems for Ding Liren and after, what he called, a "terrible blunder", he had to scramble to save a draw. That left Caruana in great shape to win the tournament. Mamedyarov struggled to find winning chances with black against Kramnik, but in the end that game ended drawn as well. Caruana, needing only a draw, was in command against Grischuk and even won the game to finish in clear first by a full point! | Photo and drawings by World Chess

See also

1/28/2018 – Magnus Carlsen won the 80th Tata Steel Masters which was decided in a blitz tiebreak over Dutch number one Anish Giri. The players contested two blitz games with 5 minutes plus 3 seconds per move, with no sudden death Armageddon game needed. Vidit played solidly to earn a draw that was enough to win the Challengers, as Korobov could not manage to pull off a win with black on-demand. | Photo: Alina l'Ami TataSteelChess.com

Video

The setup for White recommended by Valeri Lilov is solid and easy to play – the thematic moves are almost always the same ones: Nge2, 0-0, Bg5 (or Be3), Nd5, Qd2. Later, according to Black’s setup, things continue with f4 or even Rac1, b4 and play on the queenside. Starting with the classic Botvinnik-Spassky, Leiden 1970, the author describes this universally employable setup in 7 videos (+ intro and conclusion).